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mynameiskate 's review for:
Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road
by Kate Harris
I had a lot of feelings about this book. First of all, no question, Harris is a FANTASTIC writer. The comparisons to Rebecca Solnit's writing, IMNSHO, are not unwarranted. She can turn a phrase, lyrical as all get out, and paint a clear evocative picture that describes both the terrain as well as her emotional state. Beautiful.
Her journey is a fascinating one; cycling the Silk Road - what an incredible adventure! I learned a bit about geography, geology, meteorology and culture from her. Plus, I have a wistful longing to be 25 years younger and use her book not just as an inspirational travelogue but an actual guidebook as well.
For these two things alone I heartily recommend "Lands of Lost Borders". And if you are a Solnit fan or travelogue/memoir nut, definitely read.
That being said, I have a few quibbles ...
One of my quibbles was that there was no map in my book. C'mon! But I just checked the final published version and there is a detailed map in there. So, yay!! This would have made my read even more informed.
My least favourite section of the book was about Harris' time at Oxford. I found it a little "out of touch" for someone who clearly has an explorer's heart and had already completed part of her silk road journey. This continued through the majority of the book for me. She is so privileged to be able to make this journey (to be at Oxford, to get help with visas from connections in the Canadian government, etc) that I was surprised that there was not really any commentary on this.
Towards the end of the book, as Harris is musing on the plight of Tibet and its people, I found her to be more empathetic and more cognizant of her privilege.
To be clear .. I know that "Lands of Lost Borders" isn't THAT kind of book and that she has no obligation to offer this type of political commentary - but it just rang occasionally tone-deaf to me and that brought me out of her otherwise lyrical narrative.
However, I still recommend it as an excellent read. Plus she's Canadian!
I received my ARC in a Goodreads giveaway. Many thanks to Goodreads and the publisher.
Also, it didn't actually take me 7.5 months to read this :) I finished it in about a week.
Her journey is a fascinating one; cycling the Silk Road - what an incredible adventure! I learned a bit about geography, geology, meteorology and culture from her. Plus, I have a wistful longing to be 25 years younger and use her book not just as an inspirational travelogue but an actual guidebook as well.
For these two things alone I heartily recommend "Lands of Lost Borders". And if you are a Solnit fan or travelogue/memoir nut, definitely read.
That being said, I have a few quibbles ...
One of my quibbles was that there was no map in my book. C'mon! But I just checked the final published version and there is a detailed map in there. So, yay!! This would have made my read even more informed.
My least favourite section of the book was about Harris' time at Oxford. I found it a little "out of touch" for someone who clearly has an explorer's heart and had already completed part of her silk road journey. This continued through the majority of the book for me. She is so privileged to be able to make this journey (to be at Oxford, to get help with visas from connections in the Canadian government, etc) that I was surprised that there was not really any commentary on this.
Towards the end of the book, as Harris is musing on the plight of Tibet and its people, I found her to be more empathetic and more cognizant of her privilege.
To be clear .. I know that "Lands of Lost Borders" isn't THAT kind of book and that she has no obligation to offer this type of political commentary - but it just rang occasionally tone-deaf to me and that brought me out of her otherwise lyrical narrative.
However, I still recommend it as an excellent read. Plus she's Canadian!
I received my ARC in a Goodreads giveaway. Many thanks to Goodreads and the publisher.
Also, it didn't actually take me 7.5 months to read this :) I finished it in about a week.